Now general counsel have a new reason to make sure their companies have a quality compliance program in place—the companies may face fewer or lesser charges from federal antitrust prosecutors.

During a speech at New York University Law School on Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim announced what he called “a new model for incentivizing antitrust compliance programs.” For the first time, he said the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division will consider whether a company has a good faith compliance program in place at the charging stage in criminal antitrust investigations.